Ed bonds, sales-tax hike to go before Alamance County voters

Isaac Groves Times-News @TNIGroves

Monday

Apr 16, 2018 at 11:18 PMApr 16, 2018 at 11:35 PM

GRAHAM — The Alamance County Board of Commissioners voted Monday night to put $189.6 million in education bonds, as well as a sales-tax increase, on the Nov. 6 ballot after hearing close to 40 people speak at a public hearing.

The commissioners held Monday’s meeting in the Southern Alamance High School Auditorium to accommodate the larger-than usual crowd.

Commissioner Tim Sutton, saying he had struggled with his decision, probably surprised most of the people in the room by voting to put the larger bond measure — $150 million for the Alamance-Burlington School System — on the ballot without lowering the amount to borrow.

“As much as I wish we could go with a lower figure,” Sutton said. “I’m willing to let the citizens vote on this.”

The only “no” vote came from Commissioner Bill Lashley, who criticized the district’s administration, especially ABSS Superintendent Bill Harrison.

“I support the school system 100 percent, but this school system — this administration is a disgrace,” Lashley said. Voters are “not going to do it, and I’m going to vote against it.”

The more-than-two-hour public hearing was required to put the measures on the ballot.

The larger of the two is $150 million for ABSS to build a seventh high school and make upgrades and repairs to the current six high schools and two elementary schools.

The second is $39.6 million for Alamance Community College to build its center for excellence and two other education facilities, expand and improve current facilities, and build a parking deck.

The commissioners’ vote came after hearing from close to 40 speakers, many of them teachers or otherwise connected to the school district. Most spoke in support of putting the $150 million on the ballot for ABSS, some spoke out for he ACC bond as well, and many argued for the sales tax referendum.

“Let the people of this great county decide whether or not they want to invest $150 m in their children,” ABSS Superintendent Bill Harrison, the first speaker, said to applause.

One Snow Camp resident, Henry Vines, said the schools were in need, but voters wouldn’t support a bond that, he said, that could raise taxes by 13 cents per $100 valuation — the amount County Manager Bryan Hagood said it would take if the county borrowed $190 million all at once, which is not the plan.

“The majority … out here will not vote for it for the reason that they’re not going to vote for a bond that’s going to raise their taxes 13 cents,” Vines said. “But what’s going to happen if this bond fails completely? Then we’ve got nothing.”

He and one other speaker said the county might not need a seventh high school yet, and it was more realistic to go after the maintenance funding alone.

Several ABSS students told the commissioners about school conditions, including crowding, the smell of sewage at Graham High School, a lack of security doors at Williams High School, peeling paint and crumbling concrete pillars and a ceiling collapsing in the music room at Southern, “but we got lucky because it happened at night when no one was there,” Southern Student Body President Taylor Coffey said.

Several elected officials spoke up for the ABSS bond, including Burlington Mayor Ian Baltutis, and council members from Graham and Mebane — one of the county’s highest growth areas. All of them supported the bond.

Alamance Chamber President Mac Williams made an economic-growth argument, saying employers want to invest in communities with a good quality of life to attract employees.

“We’ve got a great story to tell,” Williams said. “We’re doing this because we’re growing and we’re trying to keep up with growth.”

Williams also supported a proposed quarter-cent sales tax to reduce the property tax impact, saying Alamance County is 17th in population statewide, but fifth in retail sales.

Earlier this month, the commissioners set a 7.88-cent cap in its resolution sent to the N.C. League of Municipalities, which regulates local government borrowing. Hagood gave the commissioners a list of options that could in theory bring the tax increase to as low as 2 cents. He also said the tax increase could be higher than the cap the commissioners set if there were a major change in interest rates.

The current property tax rate is 58 cents per $100 of property value.

One option to soften the blow of the bonds’ property tax increase is the additional quarter-cent sales tax the state allows local governments to levy with voter approval.

The commissioners voted 5–0 to put that on the Nov. 6 ballot.

“I will vote for that,” Lashley said when he made the motion.

A second resolution would require the county to use the additional sales-tax revenue for education and training programs. If approved, it would take an act of the commissioners to change the use of the sales tax, according to Hagood.

The county already levies a 2-cent sales tax on top of the state’s 4.75 cents, all of which was expected to bring in almost $27 million this year. The additional quarter-cent would bring sales taxes to 7 cents for an estimated additional $4.8 million per year, or the equivalent of 3.62 cents of the tax rate.

Reporter Isaac Groves can be reached at igroves@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3045. Follow him on Twitter at @tnigroves.

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